Imelda (Yukenbarri) Guguman

Born1954

LocationSandy Hills near Kiwirrkurra

SkinNakamarra

LanguageKukatja and English

Biography

Imelda walked into old Mission with her mother, accomplished painter Lucy Yukenbarri, as a small child and lived in the dormitories at the Mission for a number of years. She was looked after by the nuns and has fond memories of this time. She attended the government school at Balgo and left school in 1969. She then lived for a short time in Beagle Bay where she met her husband. They started a family there and after her second child they moved back to Balgo where they had 2 more children.

Imelda spent a lot of time with her mother and every weekend would paint alongside Lucy, where Lucy would explain the importance of passing on the stories they were painting and how Imelda needed to pass them onto her children, which she has done. When Imelda’s husband passed away she lived in Mulan for a short time and then moved back to Balgo, where she lives now. Like her sisters, Carmel, Christine and Kathy she carries on the legacy of the painting style and stories of Lucy Yukenbarri.